Anna Kendrick on Skylar Astin, Twitter, and Marissa Webb

Last night, Anna Kendrick, outfitted in Marissa Webb (a femme white chiffon dress cinched with an edgy leather vest), helped the former J.Crew designer fête the arrival of her eponymous line to Barneys New York (on sale now!). At the intimate dinner, held in a private party room on the fourth floor, a buyer for Barneys confided in us that it was a no-brainer to choose to sell Webb's effortlessly cool threads after her first showing at New York Fashion Week for Spring 2013. Following a delicious meal, which top blogger Leandra Medine attended, we chatted with Kendrick about her controversial Twitter persona, filming with Skylar Astin for Pitch Perfect, and how she chose her ensemble for the evening.

AK: I was in Barneys earlier, and one of the staff complemented me on my $6 beanie, and I was like, "Nailed it!" I love it when at fancy stores, somebody complements you on something cheap.

ELLE: Totally. You're quite the firecracker on Twitter. Who do you follow on the social media site?

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AK: I follow a lot of film blogs and a lot of comics. I follow Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Louis C.K., and Maria Bamford. I'm sort of obsessed with comics on Twitter, because you get a stream of consciousness insight into their crazy minds. So, mostly I follow people who I don't know, and then I follow people who I know in real life on Instagram.

ELLE: Do you feel like a bit of a comic on Twitter sometimes? You've got some witty one-liners.

AK: No, I mean, I use it for all kinds of things. I attempt to make jokes on Twitter, and sometimes I think what I think is going to be really funny, like, nobody likes it, nobody responds to it. But apparently, I use the word "vagina" and people go crazy.

ELLE: We recently interviewed Skylar Astin about Pitch Perfect, and he said he tried to crack you up during filming but you were pretty serious (just like your characters). What's your side of the story?

AK: I don't remember! Being in a film in which I was a lead character who had to sing and dance, put me in a really stressed-out, serious head space. So, I can imagine him trying to make me laugh and me probably, not even consciously, not breaking. But, it definitely felt like we were taking a pretty big risk, because if we had made a movie about singing and dancing that hadn't worked, it would've been really, really bad. Luckily all of the elements came together, and it was great. So, I could certainly see why I might have been ultra serious.

ELLE: And back to our favorite subject: fashion. What are you wearing this evening?

AK: We tried on a bunch of pieces from Marissa's line last night, and it was all incredible. Some of it was really feminine, and some of it was really edgy. We ended up choosing this because it really represents the feel of the whole line—that kind of mix of soft and hard. When I tried on the dress, I thought it was just the dress, and I was really excited about it. When she put on this leather vest on me, I didn't know what it was going to do; and then it weirdly made it even more flattering.

ELLE: It's red-carpet season. Do you have any dressing tips?

AK: Oh my goodness. You know, it's definitely a new world for me too. I love watching awards season and seeing people take risks. It's something I need to push myself to do, so I feel like I can't really give that advice necessarily. When you watch awards season and everyone looks really beautiful but really safe, it's kind of boring. So I get really excited when people make bold choices.